Extremely here for them going back to Jacob and Kat. He may be genially bland at best but he has real spark with her and works well as a straight man for her, unlike Tomas. They have to know about the response to these two last year so hopefully it leads somewhere this time, even if I don't think it should be an endgame for Kat.

3 hours ago, GLATWT88 said:

I honestly would have preferred Kat and Eva to be going for the same guy, but Tomas was a dud and well I don't know what Izaiah is giving at this point.

Half-sisters that don't like each other and then fight over a guy is a classic soap element.

Writers:
Anthony Lucente
Danielle Paige

Director:
Steven Williford

original release date: Wednesday, June 3, 2026 | writers: Anthony Lucente, Danielle Paige | director: Steven Williford

Thoughts:

• Not one but TWO nights at the Bowman?! THAT IS RIGHT!! GET IT!! I love that for them!! Cousin Emerson? A good cover story.

• Not Tyrell sniping like this. Whew. And the Richardson-Smith household is back!! Wow. Poor Bradley is just overstimulated, and I am with him. I would have the same, exact reaction! Everyone OUT!

• I am genuinely hopeful that Monica could be named chief of staff at Garland Memorial. I feel like she would boost morale at the hospital and bring some real warmth.

• Poor Eva, pulled so thin that she is spiraling. And poor Alan having to put up with Dana's manipulations. But what is not being is ridiculous over Derek's passion. It is realistic.

• Aw, I love that Ted is giving this sound advice to Eva. I really hope that this helps her in dealing with her grief over Derek.

• I appreciate seeing Naomi try and sweeten the deal with Monica taking on the chief of staff position.

• I love that Ted is also making time for Martin. I love seeing their father-son relationship grow and develop. It is beyond time at this point.

• Not Chelsea and Katherine calling out Samantha's crush on Donnell, and of course the former would not be surprised about Donnell's crush on her. That was cute. But the last time Katherine gave advice... whew. Dumb.

• Ouch. Bradley is still wound up tighter than a watch. And it looks like Naomi has some got words to have with him. This will not be pretty, will it?

• I think it is sweet of Eva to go to Shanice. I think that was a smart move for her.

• I love that Anita cut Nicole off. She is fine knowing they had the kind of sex life they had, but she does not need the details. 🤣

• So sweet of Shanice to share those details and memories of Derek with Eva. This could be a friendship worth developing. I could see them being genuine friends.

• Jessica and Tyrell really need to grow up in their mindsets, because right now, neither of them are thinking clearly about the future of their relationship.

• Bow chika-bow-wow! Get it, Bradley and Martin! Get your sexy time on!

• A ChelseaKat bag named after Samantha? That was sweet. Real sweet.

• I like that Monica is willing to take on the position while maintaining her cases outside of the hospital. We love seeing this. This could be a really promising future.

• Anita continues to clock Nicole about being in denial over her feelings where Ted is concerned. That is momma Dupree speaking.

Notes:

• One of Lucente's better breakdowns. They need to bring this level of quality to every single script they touch because this was better than their last few.

• Some awesome character developments happening in today's episode. I really enjoyed it.

Finally coming into June and...the chuckling I've been letting out.

Yeah, I didn't find post-cotillion...outside of one episode...the show lost momentum. And like a lot of the post-cotillion week, I thought it was quite good for what it was. I had mentioned that the episodes were good, but just about every episode felt like it was missing...something. But I couldn't put my finger on it. Like the one episode I mentioned...was good after a second watch. And that episode was Derek's memorial. The memorial was nice...and I'm pretty such we saw the firefighters before so bonus. And I liked the song in the opening part of the episode. But overall, I was meh.

I was VERY glad that the story has turned away from Ashley as the POV (for now) for Derek's death. It finally got around to Jacob. And that I've been enjoying so much more of. And the actor has slowly been rising to the occasion, making me feel his loss for his BFF. I really loved how Naomi has been there for him as well. That good guy/good girl couple.

That said...this leading to the Impaler reveal? Le sigh. And Joey also being on a collision course as well. Well, let's hope they keep the momentum for that at least.

YES!!! to Kristen Dimera vs Silk Press Sheila. Now THAT was more like it. It felt evenly matched and they both gave as good as they got. And it was less Cartoon Leslie but SPS so AMEN. Since it has been brought back up again re: alliance, I hope that continues to mean that Hayley's storyline is truly moving again. Which judging from Bill's tremors...that's a YES.

Vernon, Anita, and the interruptions were hilarious as heck. Good to see all the actors can not only do drama, but well-timed comedy as well. Some of those looks should be gifs.

Looking forward to more as well as the forthcoming crossover.

-- This feels like the lull before the crossover event.

-- All those people in the Richardson living room -- all doing different things and having separate conversations -- made no sense to me. What was that all about?

-- Smitty works from home but doesn't have an office. Huh? And he's just now finishing his "first draft" on the plasma story? 😂

-- Kat and Chelsea are more media savvy than portrayed. The video they took of Samantha in the living room would not represent their brand.

-- The Martin and Smitty parenting of Tyrell, setting guidelines and guardrails for his relationship with Jessica, are clearly a fail. Tyrell said they'd leave the door open to his bedroom, but Smitty sent them to another room instead. The next thing you know, they're having sex in Tyrell's bed, and calmly basking in the glow afterwards. What the hell is going on?

-- Nicole is still angry that Ted recommended her for the Chief of Staff position. Jesus, just get over yourself, Nicole. Her anger is ridiculous.

-- Monica is a good character, but I think we're getting too many scenes about her becoming Chief of Staff. This is not some major plot development, and it just feels like filler before crossover time.

-- It's good that Derek hasn't been forgotten. I just hope that tomorrow we don't get Ashley sobbing away again. Also, all of this makes me wish they wrote Derek differently -- better -- when he was around.

-- Some of the dialogue in this episode was too cute by half, as if every other line had to be followed by a cliche or something adorable. Just a bit AI to me.